This invention relates to a molding machine in which several molding units having upper and lower molds are supported on a turret and are adapted to be indexed intermittently through a series of stations. One of the stations which each molding unit moves into and dwells in is an opening station where the lower mold is pulled downwardly from the upper mold to permit removal of the newly formed part from the molds.
In one prior molding machine of this general type, an hydraulic actuator is located in the opening station and is adapted to operate a vertically reciprocable puller for opening the molds of each molding unit. Each lower mold carries a depending operator which moves into a loose interfitting relationship with the puller as the molding unit is first rotated into the opening station. When the unit dwells, the hydraulic actuator is operated and shifts the puller in a downward direction to cause the puller to engage the operating member and move the lower mold downwardly from the upper mold.
The position which the puller occupies when the operating member of each molding unit moves into loose interfitting relation with the puller is neither the uppermost nor the lowermost limit position of the puller. Instead, the puller is located in an intermediate position and must be held in that position in order to avoid interference between the puller and the operating member of the unit being indexed into the opening station.